March/April 2010 Developments - 74

Construction & Designt the northern end of the Las Vegas Strip, the largest resort in the Hilton Grand Vacations collection (714 units) provides owners and guests with ideal access to the constant allure of this city and its attractions. The towering property also stands as an example of the company’s commitment to sustainability. In July 2007, Hilton Grand Vacations Club on the Las Vegas Strip formed a special committee to address how best to advance the resort’s sustainability efforts, with volunteer representatives from every operations department. The committee named itself R3 (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) and crafted the following mission statement: “To be the leaders in sustainability within the Hilton Grand Vacations community; to continuously educate ourselves, our team members, and our sister properties in the most current conservation measures; and to implement those measures wherever possible.” Here’s a look at what they did. of a three-month test of eco-friendly cleaning agents and chemicals, aimed at reducing the toxins released by ammoniabased products. Shower dispensers have been installed in two guest rooms, and guests have also been enlisted to help test eco-friendly shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. Once this test is proven successful, the team will be able to eliminate the monthly usage of 22,860 plastic bottles, further reducing the impact on the city’s landﬁll. Adalberto Lugo Steps to Sustainable Success: A Case Study efﬁciencies. Rather than activating multiple boilers to reset a temperature in speciﬁc zones, the system was adjusted to activate only individual boilers as needed, achieving the desired result while utilizing less gas. The domestic water and spa temperatures were also lowered by two degrees, decreasing the demand on the boilers. These adjustments have resulted in a reduction of 94,913 therms, a drop of 69.3 percent, compared to the previous year’s gas consumption. The next step was to address electrical consumption, starting with reducing lighting by 50 percent in all stairwells and back-of-house locations (at no detriment to safety). Other initiatives included the installation of photocells for all exterior lighting and parking garage stairwells, and the separation of exterior lighting circuits controlling 865 exterior bulbs and 2,102 linear feet of neon lighting. Occupancy sensors were also installed in ofﬁces and back-of-house areas, resulting in a savings of 1.28 million kilowatt hours, a drop of 9.1 percent. One of the most signiﬁcant accomplishments was the conversion of the ﬁrst tower’s guest room lighting from incandescent to compact ﬂuorescent bulbs; this entailed the replacement of the lighting in 506 guest rooms, equating 9,908 bulbs. In the ﬁrst month after the conversion, total kilowatt hours were reduced by 42,136 over the same month the prior year, despite the addition of a new 500,000-square-foot parking garage. This effort also produced an added labor savings because of the longer life of compact ﬂuorescent lighting. Beginning with the Basics The R3 Committee’s goal is to become the ﬁrst LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Certiﬁed Hilton Grand Vacations resort. With that goal, 13 members have accomplished several important initiatives, beginning with simple, low-cost measures. These initiatives include eliminating disposable cups in the team member break rooms (replaced by ceramic mugs, donated by employees); purchasing recycled copy paper; adding aluminum and plastic recycle bins in general areas; adding a used battery recycle program; recycling cardboard; and encouraging participation in carpooling/ public transportation and the citysponsored Club Ride program. In addition, the housekeeping department implemented a “Conserve to Preserve” program, in which guests are encouraged to reuse their linens and towels, reducing the amount of chemical and water consumption associated with laundering. The resort is also in the process 74 The success at the Vegas site has sparked the enthusiasm across the entire Hilton Grand Vacations organization. Beyond the conservation beneﬁts of our efforts, who can argue with anticipated savings of more than $1 million a year? Curbing Water, Energy Use Having accomplished these initiatives at a minimal cost, the R3 Committee turned its focus to the conservation of natural resources. The ﬁrst step was to evaluate and reduce water consumption. They replaced irrigation-intensive greenery with indigenous desert landscaping. By controlling and reducing the pool backwashes, landscape irrigation time, water softener backwash, and cooling tower blow-down cycles—combined with low-ﬂush toilets in guest rooms in both towers—water consumption was reduced by 13,893 gallons, or 48.21 percent, compared to the previous year. By assuming in-house control over all repair and maintenance of natural gasrelated mechanical systems, the Committee identiﬁed several opportunities to increase More Success Ahead In this short time, the R3 Committee has taken an aggressive approach toward becoming LEED-certiﬁed. The members have joined the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and submitted an Energy Star veriﬁcation form, completed by a Professional Engineer (PE), after performing a comprehensive analysis Developments • March/April 2010

March/April 2010 Developments

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